Cross section of tree – Gemma

Cross section of wood – Gemma

 

From looking at my cross section of wood it was not easy to see how many rings there were, it was obvious to see that there were a few dominant rings that do occur though. There are about 3 dominant rings and by looking closely there were around 18 other rings, meaning this tree would have been about 21 years old. It is hard to tell the age from this cross section as the rings do not tend to form a full circle around the centre point also known as the pith. This is the clear centre circle that can be seen in the photo. It is off centre, only completed three quarters of the circle and is not a very circular shape. But in other tree cross sections you would get a circular and central shape. The reason my cross section is not in the centre is due to the fact that it would have been growing towards the sunlight so was leaning towards that side. This cross section is a good example of seeing the vertical lines that happen in wood, these are vital as they are the production and deposit of the nutrients and moisture to the tree.

The cross sections shows a number of different shades throughout it all. The lighter shades would occur from the spring as it is growing at a constant ace over a long period of time. But the darker parts that can be seen would be where the growth was at its faster, usually through the summer months as the growth is it its maximum due to the hotter weather. Some of these darker patches would also be where there are dead cells within the tree. This would be when the tree was growing and these cells were near the bark and got damaged in some way, then they were unable to get the nutrients needed and later died because of this. This cross section shows a number of darker patches on it, meaning that it may well be older than it looks to be, it was just a very damaged tree as it was growing. The tree was also on the ground when the cross section was cut so it is hard to say how long it had been on the floor for, so the wood would have already began to break up and die as the nutrients would not be going around the tree.